Hi, this is Heather Meligan reporting from Brisbane, Australia. When I went shopping for foods to make lunches with, I found myself embarking on a unique cultural adventure. I had planned on getting some fruit, bread, meat, chips and pop. I ended up with a package of chicken from the deli, some white bread, two containers of ripe strawberries, a 600 mL bottle of diet coke, and some Pringles. Thus far, everything I had wanted to find at Safeway had been easily located. Sure some of the brands were different in Australia, but the foods themselves were the same.

Before I left, I remembered that I would need mustard for my chicken sandwiches. When I went to the aisle with the spreads on it, mustard was nowhere to be found. For five to ten minutes I stood there thoroughly perusing the aisle’s contents. I was positive I must not be seeing something that was surely right in front of me. Vegemite, jellies and jams, peanut butter, honey, and a variety of other spreads stood before me on the shelf. I became frantic, as I had a limited amount of time to search with people waiting for me outside the store. Eventually, I gave up searching and decided that it must not exist here in Australia.

I found it! (Photo by Jill Russell)

Later I realized I hadn’t seen any ketchup or mayonnaise either, and decided those also didn’t exist here. When walking to dinner that evening I recounted the story to one of my classmates, mentioning that I couldn’t possibly live in a country where mustard didn’t exist. That was how I found out that it was located on the ethnic foods aisle. This was the last place I would have thought to look for mustard! It made me feel like a true foreigner to discover that mustard is considered an ethnic food here. When I think of ethnic foods I usually think of Hispanic and Asian foods.

Ketchup and mustard are now ethnic food. (Photo by Heather Meligan)

I never thought that term would be applied to a food I considered to be a standard commodity. As a first time international traveler, this is an experience that I will not soon forget. In the future when I travel to other countries, and can’t find what I’m looking for, I will be sure to look in the ethnic foods aisle.

--Heather Meligan